Joining the ‘buzz’ : the role of social media in raising research visibility at

Rhodes University Grahamstown, South Africa

Eileen ShepherdPrincipal Librarian : Faculty Liaison Services

Science & Pharmacy

Rhodes University Library

Grahamstown, South Africa

LIASA – HELIG webinar

6th November 2014

This presentation endeavours to:

to provide a brief introduction to altmetrics – a non-traditional form of measuring scholarly impact

to demonstrate the use of social media in raising awareness and visibility of Rhodes University research

Traditional bibliometric methods of evaluating academic research

Citations

h-indicesA scholar with an h-index of 18 has published 18 papers each of which has been cited in other papers at least 18 times

Journal Impact FactorsIn any given year, the impact factor of a journal is the average number of citations received per paper published in that journal during the two preceding years

supplemented in the past 5-6 years

by the development of altmetrics

i.e.(alternative metrics or article level metrics)

“The creation and study of new metrics based on the Social

Web for analyzing and informing scholarship”

http://altmetrics.org/about/

Traditional bibliometrics have been

Do / should / will social media feature in academia?

Social media and

scholarly communication?

“…….. Web 2.0 applications will have an increasing role in the scholarly communication process. While research shows that take up in academia is at a relatively low level (although at least two UK-based Vice Chancellors now have a Twitter following), many publishers are providing wiki-based forums for specific journals or disciplines facilitating discussion on, and sharing of, research findings…”

Woodward, H. (2010) Dissemination Models in Scholarly

Communication, New Review of Academic Librarianship, 16:S1, 1-3, DOI:0.1080/13614533.2010.514763

Do academics use social media in the course of their research?

: Survey Results

“Giant academic social networks have taken off

to a degree that no one expected

even a few years ago*

Survey asked how researchers used social networks and/or

profile-hosting or search services

Received: 3,500 responses from 95 countries

*Van Noorden, R., 2014. Online collaboration: Scientists and the social network. Nature, 512(7513), pp.126–129. Available at: http://tinyurl.com/lo3fgn4

8Sites in order of popularity with researchers (330 regular visitors)

61%

1%

12%

48%

8%

8%12%

40%

38%

22%

4%

5%

Van Noorden, R., 2014. Online collaboration: Scientists and the social

network. Nature, 512(7513), pp.126–129. Available at: http://tinyurl.com/lo3fgn4

9

Scholarly use of Twitter

Reasons for using Twitter

330 regular users from 3500 respondents

49% Follow discussion46% To post work42% Discover papers40% Discover peers40% Comment on research36% Share links to content

From ‘Nature’ survey

10

Due to the increasing variety of online references to research, and also of tools for sharing research…

A confusing array of social media choices:

C

How do we measure impact and how is research

communicated & shared via the Web?

New tools needed to measure

Enter : altmetricsnew approach to determining quality/popularity of research

value can be assessed by tallying shares, saves, reviews,

adaptations & social media usage

no longer a FAD

shows impact of research outside of the academy

limitations? need to develop a way to differentiate between scholarly

& sexy research ; vulnerable to gaming

databases & publishers: incorporation of altmetrics in search results

Konkiel, S., 2013. Altmetrics : A 21st-Century Solution to Determining Research Quality. (Cover story). Online Searcher, 37(4), pp.11–15. Available at: http://tinyurl.com/lrvlu6g

Origin of the term: altmetrics

Who is collecting & sharing altmetrics?

A cluster of servers that watch social media sites, newspapers, government policy

documents and other sources for mentions of scholarly articles. Brings all the attention

together to compile article level metricshttp://www.altmetric.com/

Tracks more than 20 different types of artifacts, including journal articles, books,

videos, presentations, conference proceedings, datasets, source code, cases,

and morehttp://www.plumanalytics.com/

Open-source, web-based tool that helps researchers explore and share the diverse

impacts of all their research productshttps://impactstory.org/

14

Example of altmetrics

15

Use of Altmetric bookmarklet

Altmetric stats

Click formore detailsGet this bookmarklet for your toolbar

http://www.altmetric.com/bookmarklet.php

Bookmarklet in toolbar

More details – from previous slide

Another example of altmetrics in action

Note the “Article metrics” option on the Nature webpage

Article metrics – from previous slide

Altmetrics data for article – accessed by using altmetrics bookmarklet

Example using an article indexed on Scopus

Scopus now includesAltmetrics at article level

Article indexed on Scopus – embedded Altmetric details

Embedded Altmetrics on Scopus : the details

Register for email updates

when this article is shared

NB

demographics

Altmetrics demographics for article

and Mendeley readers : details

Same article on Mendeley

More about

Impressive support base

US$500,000 grant from Sloan Foundation

28

Example of an ImpactStory profile

NB Register for your own ImpactStory profilehttps://impactstory.org/

https://impactstory.org/

Beyond the traditional

Social media ‘stats’:what do/could they offer?

Provide evidence that relevant communities are aware of a specific paper

Provide evidence that a relatively under cited paper is having a research impact

Provide evidence of public interest in…

Indicate a pathway for research to reach a wide range of audiences

Compare readership of articles across countries

Compare communities discussing articles - science communicators, researchers, policy makers, practitioner communities…

Neylon, C., (2014) Altmetrics can signal flows of information for paths in scholarly communication not yet mapped. Impact of Social Sciences. Available at: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2014/10/07/altmetrics-what-are-they-good-for/

Future of altmetrics?

…[these] numbers …are signals of the flow of information down paths that we haven’t mapped.

• most exciting possibility…only just starting to explore.

• who is using that information?• correlation analysis can’t tell us this, but more

sophisticated approaches might• with that information …could design scholarly

communication systems to maximise their reach, value and efficiency

Neylon, C., (2014) Altmetrics can signal flows of information for paths in scholarly communication not yet mapped. Impact of Social Sciences. Available at: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2014/10/07/altmetrics-what-are-they-good-for/

Open Access + Social Media = Competitive Advantage

How can open access outperform its tenacious, institutionalized competition, the traditional top-tier

journals?

Perhaps through its intimate relationship with social media.

Blogging, tweeting, publicly discussing research > benefits for scientists, journals, and even society, > increased

debate and transparency

Tabor, A., (2012) Open Access + Social Media = Competitive Advantage. http://tinyurl.com/pqrv4ds

James Balm, Social Media Assistant BioMed Central

combining research & social media to deliver a message that is accessible to everyone and make science exciting

draw significant attention to [specific] research papers

Facebook and Twitter, help bring approximately 25,000 visitors to BioMed Central research papers per month

engage / discuss important issues that affect the science community and to discuss new research, its quality and validity

*Open access and social media: helping science move forwards. Evidently Cochrane. Available at: http://tinyurl.com/pftvx5h

Recent Altmetrics conference in London sponsored by Wellcome

Trust

Presentations and review of conference:

http://tinyurl.com/ovfjods http://tinyurl.com/palxkqk

Worth a visit

ScienceDirect – “social media” featured in top 25 downloads in 2nd quarter of 2014 Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media Business Horizons, Volume 53, Issue 1, January 2010, Pages 59-68 Kaplan, Andreas M.; Haenlein, Michael

Most downloads

Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix •Business Horizons, Volume 52, Issue 4, July 2009, Pages 357-365 Mangold, W. Glynn; Faulds, David J.

3rd highest downloads

Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media Business Horizons, Volume 54, Issue 3, May 2011, Pages 241-251 Kietzmann, Jan H.; Hermkens, Kristopher; McCarthy, Ian P.; Silvestre, Bruno S.

7th highest downloads

Social media in academia?

So what! Why should I care?

I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS

I’LL PASS ON THIS ONE

Practical example of the use of social media in an academic context in order to highlight research

output

How are Rhodes University librarians are using

social media to raise research visibility?

http://www.ru.ac.za/library/

Putting it together

@RhodesResearch Twitter account – articles, conference papers, theses, reports of research, etc. are tweeted regularly

These are re-tweeted on subject-related Twitter accounts

which are embedded in our Subject LibGuides – increase visibility

Subject blogs – monthly posting of research (presently Science & Pharmacy) output with links to articles/papers

which Rhodes Library Facebook & Twitter then advertise

@RhodesResearch - Twitter accounthttps://twitter.com/RhodesResearch

Initiated as an experiment

in May 2013: with sole purpose of

promoting Rhodes research output

Alerts to Rhodes-affiliated research:

Other sources:

How is Rhodes research information sourced by librarians?

Web of ScienceScopusEBSCOhostSabinetResearchGateSAePublications

Academic department websites & researchers

Rhodes University webpageMediaWord of mouthGoogleScholar author alerts

Article on publisher’s site

Use the DOI in the Twitter link to the article

Publisher’s website : “Share” options

Sharing is facilitated by the fact that

more and more publishers are

including ‘share’ options at article-level – makes it so much easier

Say it with a #hashtag! Make your Tweets more visible

. Albany Museum #AlbanyMuseumBiochemistry #RUBiochem

Biotech Innovation Centre (RUBIC)

#RUBiotech

Botany #RUBotany

Chem #RUChem

ComSci #RUComSci

EBRU #RUEBRU

Env Sci #RUEnvSci

Geography #RUGeography

Geology #RUGeology

HKE #RUHKE

IWR #RUIWR

Maths #RUMaths

Pharmacy #RUPharm

Physics #RUPhysics

Stats #RUStats

Zoo #RUZoo

#RUIWR- example of standardised

hashtag for academic

departments

#tags for RU Science Depts

@RUBiochemnews Twitter account follows @RhodesResearch

Retweets from @RhodesResearch

@RULPharmNews Twitter account follows @RhodesResearch

@RULPharmNews ‘Follows’

@RhodesResearch and re-tweets

relevant articles, thus providing

extra exposure to RU pharmacy

research

Embedded ‘tweets’ in the Pharmacy Subject Guide

Tweets appear automatically in the

embedded @RULPharmNews twitter

account on LibGuide

Blog: monthly list of Rhodes Science Pharmacy researchhttp://rulscipharm.blogspot.com/

Rhodes Library Facebook page:Advertising RhodesResearch

Rhodes Library Twitter site:Advertising Rhodes Research

Interest in @RhodesResearch

289 followers ( as at 5 November 2014)Rhodes studentsAbout 20 Rhodes academics & support staffProfessional & Research organisationsPublishers / journal editorsJournalists / media organisationsAcademic librarians (non-Rhodes)Individuals (other than Rhodes students & staff)

@RhodesResearch followers:Research & other organisations

No of followers@EzemveloScience KZN wildlife (572)@HSP_70 Scientific Resource (18)@CSIR Council Science SA (2710)@ASSAf_Official (179)@SAPECS_TWEETS social-ecological systems (48)@FormularyIE Irish Medicines (598)@OWSD_SA Women in Science (75)@ISSF sustainable tuna fishing (4620)@GreenMatterZA environmental (347)@GreenLeagueZA environmental (118)@SAStats (4458)

Potential reach

@RhodesResearch followers:Research & other organisations

No. of followers @Research Africa Research funding (439) @SAYAS_SA Young Academy of Science (139) @ASSAf_Official Academy of Science SA (179) @ACEP_ZA Coelacanth programme (256) @agingandsociety US aging research (173) @NHLSBRC Bio-Resource Center (3) @ELIDZSTP1R&D facilities (26) @eoth_moz community-based conservation (592) @EiffelCorpSA educational technology (17) @prospectpredict business development USA (635) @DorringtonResGr microbiologists (20) @SASBi_Bioinf Society for Bioinformatics (132)

@RhodesResearch followers: Publishers, journal editors, media

No of followers

@SasjaSA SA Science Journalists' Association (475) @Rhodes_JMS Rhodes School of Journalism (586) @Ecquid_Novi African Journalism Studies (145) @TheJournalistSA Context & history for key issues (454) @alphagalileo breaking research news - London (2656) @Awesomelastus journalist – Zambia (637) @struandouglas freelance journalist (82) @MakanaEdutouris promotes travel for learning (167) @SciBraai features: SA research-technology-innovation (659) @hwasser Prof of Media Studies – UCT (2094)

@RhodesResearch followers: Publishers, journal editors, media

No of followers @cdnsciencepub scientific & technical journals (2562) @CG_Publishing academic publishers – Illinois, USA (99) @SAJS_Official SA Journal of Science (108) @sarahemilywild Science editor, Mail & Guardian (2592) @Steven_Lang journalist (260) Dalton Transactions Royal Soc Chem journal (2270) @Grocotts local newspaper (2180) @mishsolomon freelance journalist – Johannesburg (3817) @scientist_kenni Science Communicator – Cape Town (327)

@RhodesResearch followers:Individuals – a selection

No of followers @Anneke1976 Programme Dir. Amsterdam Fringe Festival (925) @brocksaglio Canadian academic (Geography) (205) @pat_loria Academic library director (359) @RickMavrovich Global Executive Strategist (2920) @CazV7776 social worker (94) @JustinBlakeZA marine biologist (291) @kveerubhotla Pharmacist – India (14) @Morgs_John Scientist – Cape Town (39) @SarahGoodier open access proponent - UCT (784) @CarolineDean academic librarian – UCT (96) @gsulc UCT academic & education writer (220) @schwarzwild1 communications specialist – Germany (119) @BonnieAgea researcher, writer, commentator – Tanzania (180) 26 Rhodes University academics / support staff

From research alert to the world!

“The retweet is one of the most commonly used tools on Twitter, and is a great way to pass on interesting

tweets that you have read [to] your followers.”

Twitonomy site: retweets from @RhodesResearch

http://twitonomy.com/

Twitter Analytics of Followers

https://analytics.twitter.com/about

Reaction from Rhodes University community

Polite interestMild interestTotal disinterestFaint enthusiasmScepticismImplied ridicule

Thanks for doing thisRetweeting of tweetsResearch items for tweeting

Interest in using for Department

What to do?This called for some….

which resulted in some interesting responses from academics…..

Alerting researchers to the use of Twitter to highlight their research

From: Eileen Shepherd [mailto:e.shepherd@ru.ac.za] Sent: 11 September 2014 11:16 AM To: ………………………………………

Subject: Crisis! What Crisis? The Multiple Dimensions of the Zimbabwean Crisis

 Hi ……………….. Thought you might like to see your article is featured on @RhodesResearch https://twitter.com/RhodesResearch regardsEileen

Response from this historian From: …………………………………….Sent: 11 September 2014 11:20 AMTo: 'Eileen Shepherd'Subject: RE: Crisis! What Crisis? The Multiple Dimensions of the Zimbabwean Crisis 

Wow, thank you. Very innovative of you guys. Keep it up.

 From: Eileen Shepherd [mailto:e.shepherd@ru.ac.za] Sent: 11 September 2014 11:16 AMTo:………………………..Subject: Crisis! What Crisis? The Multiple Dimensions of the Zimbabwean Crisis

 Hi …………………….Thought you might like to see your article is featured on @RhodesResearch https://twitter.com/RhodesResearch Regards

Eileen

Another example, with response: a more reserved chemist, time!

From: ………………….Sent: 28 August 2014 04:59 PMTo: Eileen ShepherdSubject: Re: MRSA pyruvate kinase inhibitory activity of synthetically derived thiazole containing deoxytopsentin analogues  

Thanks so much Eileen, this is quite exciting! Kind Regards,……………… On Thu, 2014-08-28 at 11:57 +0200, Eileen Shepherd wrote:> Hi ……………………. >

> Thought you might like to know your article is featured on > @RhodesResearch https://twitter.com/RhodesResearch>

Some reflections regarding @RhodesResearch experiment

Is it worth continuing?

Yes

Enhanced engagement with research & researchers

Time-consuming

An added dimension to job responsibilities

But interesting

And stimulating

Provided an opportunity to engage with developing field of altmetrics

References Balm, J., 2014. Open access and social media: helping science move forward. Evidently Cochrane. http://www.evidentlycochrane.net/open-access-social-media-can-help-science-move-forwards/Gunasekaran, S. & Arunachalam, S., 2014. The impact factors of open access and subscription journals across fields. Current Science, 107(3), pp.380–388. http://www.currentscience.ac.in/Volumes/107/03/0380.pdf Hitchcock, T., 2014. Twitter and blogs are not add-ons to academic research, but a simple reflection of the passion that underpins it. Impact of Social Sciences. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2014/07/28/twitter-and-blogs-academic-public-sphere/ Konkiel, S.P., 2014. The Imperative for Open Altmetrics. Journal of Electronic Publishing, 17(3). Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.3336451.0017.301 Macpherson, E., 2014. Four things policy-makers need to know about social media data and real time analytics. Impact of Social Sciences. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2014/08/01/four-things-on-social-media-data-for-policymakers/ Neylon, C., 2014. Altmetrics: What are they good for? | PLOS Opens. http://blogs.plos.org/opens/2014/10/03/altmetrics-what-are-they-good-for/ Tabor, A. 2012. Open Access + Social Media = Competitive Advantage. https://www.mysciencework.com/news/6350/open-access-social-media-competitive-advantageWing, K., 2014. Scientists across disciplines must get to a better agreement on social media metrics. Impact of Social Sciences. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2014/09/29/what-are-scientists-doing-on-twitter/ Woolman, J. 2014. Social media outcomes in academia: engage with your audience and they will engage with you. Impact of Social Sciences. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2014/09/24/social-media-outcomes-academia /

Thank you for listening!Please Follow @RhodesResearch

Hot off the press – now contains postgrad presentations

I will try to answer any questions you may have but would also be interested to hear your

reactions and comments.

What do you think of this idea?

Feel free to contact me (until 15 December 2014)

e.shepherd@ru.ac.za